Norman Solomon was interviewed in PR Week. Their review is below:
PRWeek magazine, July 18, 2005 [print edition]
Book Review
‘Easy’ takes hard look at wartime PR
Title: War Made Easy Author: Norman Solomon
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (July 2005), 314 pagesReviewed by Hamilton Nolan
Do you ever get the sinking feeling that the war in Iraq was foisted upon
Americans by an entrenched power structure using ever more refined PR
techniques to bend a pliant corporate media to their will?If so, cheer up. You’re not the only one. Norman Solomon, a
syndicated columnist and media critic, explores the rich history of
this phenomenon in War Made Easy. He focuses on how the current war
was sold, dissecting common arguments like “Our leaders will do all
they can to avoid war” and “If this war is wrong, the media will tell
us.”Solomon also highlights the inevitably high level of collusion
between the press and the government in wartime, quoting one military
public affairs officer calling the press “cooperative … we’re all
after the same thing.”The public affairs techniques he discusses will be familiar to most
PR pros. But the sociopolitical context he provides adds a useful
real-world gut check for media, PR, and government insiders.